Frank Herbert's Dune

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This mini-series deserved a better DVD...

By IGN Staff

I have to admit; I've always been quite fond of David Lynch's interpretation of Frank Herbert's science fiction classic, Dune (I say interpretation since that is basically what a movie version of such a complex book is). Despite the diversions that were made from the book in both the 2-hour and TV cuts of the film, it had some good things going for it such as the look of the film and the awesome Toto soundtrack.

After a couple months on the ancient format of VHS, the Sci Fi channel's interpretation of the epic has been pressed onto the shiny discs that we all worship, and Dune fans finally have another DVD of their favorite story. It's just a shame they didn't take a little better advantage of the format.

The Movie

For those of you who grew up in front of a TV watching Full House, Frank Herbert¿s Sci-Fi classic Dune tells the story of the planet Arrakis - a planet that is completely covered in desert and is the only place in the galaxy where the Spice Melange can be found. Melange is what makes space travel and commerce possible, and thus is the most valuable commodity in the galaxy. He who controls the Spice, controls the galaxy.

Enter two rival houses, Atreides and Harkonnen. When Dune opens, House Atreides is headed to Arrakis and set up shop, but the scheming and manipulative Harkonnen also wants to control the spice. The "head" of House Atreides, Duke Leto, and his son, Paul Atreides, head to Dune where they will make their new home and harvest the spice.

Dune isn¿t completely uninhabited, however, as there is a group of people who live in the deep desert known as the Fremen. These desert-dwelling natives have a prophecy that a messiah will come to them, and Paul Atreides just happens to be this man. Through a long course of events, Paul accepts his role and becomes known as Muad¿Dib.

That is just a quick and rough interpretation of what you¿ll find in Dune. The story is incredibly deep and layered with many threads and twists, making it close to impossible for anyone to correctly translate it to film-form or summarize quickly. Yet on that same note, given enough time and the right "vision" you can do a good job interpreting the story on film, which is where this nearly six-hour version of Dune comes in.

Originally shown on the Sci-Fi channel back in December of 2000 in three two-hour movies, Frank Herbert¿s Dune was written and directed by John Harrison, and while some purists will never be truly satisfied, I must say that he did a pretty good job with Herbert¿s vision given that this is a made-for-TV movie.

Lynch¿s version of the story still has some cool things such as the worm design (still better than the CGI phallic symbols that are here), the Harkonnen costumes, Sting, Patrick Stewart, and the awesome soundtrack. Even with that going for it, the film still wasn¿t as detailed as what is contained on these discs.

This version of Dune looks like it was filmed for TV, there is no doubt about that. There are times when you can easily notice the set backdrops as a painting, and some of the CGI isn¿t up to even Babylon 5 standards (but the Spacing Guild Navigator is very cool). Yet you need to shove all of that out of your mind and enjoy the film for what it is ¿ a good version of one of the greatest Science Fiction epics ever.

The storytelling is slower here than in the Lynch version as it explains and shows more than Lynch did, while glossing over other things and downplaying some story points (such as Dr. Leuh¿s betrayal of House Atreides). It does feel more complete than the 80¿s telling of the story, but it can never replace the book.

Not the definitive telling of Dune, but not bad either.

8 out of 10

The Video

Even though the box of the two-disc set says that the transfer is anamorphic, sadly it is not. That's not to say it's not a decent transfer, because it is, but if they could have gone the extra mile and made it anamorphic a lot of people would have been happier and fewer people would pass on the disc.

With that in mind, the transfer is decent for non-anamorphic fare. Colors are extremely rich, and the picture is bright and sharp. The only problem with such as clear transfer is that is shows off that this was made for TV. Many shots that were filmed with a painted stage backdrop look even more fake than they did in the original broadcast thanks to the added clarity of DVD. Worse yet there is a lot of edge enhancement throughout the entire film as well as some excessive shimmering at times. Sigh, this disc could of looked excellent.

5 out of 10

The Audio

It's 2.0. What more can be said? 2.freakin'-0! The original Star Trek shows from the 60's were remixed into DD 5.1, but a TV mini-series from the year 2000 can't be? Bah!

At least you can clearly hear the dialog, music, and sound effects.

2 out 10

The Extras

Here¿s another place where the disc falls short, simply because there is another DVD available that blows away these extras. The same time the mini-series premiered on cable, iBooks released an excellent "making-of" book titled "The Secrets of Frank Herbert¿s Dune". In addition to in-depth information in text form about the production, the book also included an 80-minute DVD that was packed with everything you could ever wish to know about the making of the epic.

Unfortunately, this DVD features a very slimmed-down 25-minute documentary that isn¿t nearly as interesting, as well a nice text document by the Cinematographer detailing how they achieved the look of the series. The making-of book is an excellent companion to the series, and since the extras here aren¿t quiet as good as the 80-mini DVD, I¿d recommend any Dune fan track down the book and add it to your collection.

Another thing, if you go to the Sci-Fi Channel¿s web site, you¿ll notice some cool trailers for the mini-series. Are those on this disc? Nope.

5 out of 10

I admit, I enjoyed the mini-series when it aired and I was really looking forward to this DVD. I hold Dune (the novel) about as high as I hold The Lord of the Rings trilogy as one of my favorite stories of all time. I'm just upset that the series didn't get the DVD presentation that it deserved.

If you are a Dune fan, and can put up with a mediocre transfer, I¿d definitely suggest you add this to your DVD library. Just find a copy of the "making of" book if you want a good documentary on the production.